The centre seeks to harness technology’s potential for the equitable and human-centred transformation of industries, economies and societies. Its mission is to provide a strategic and future-oriented platform to help make sense of exponential technologies and drive their responsible adoption and application globally. It focuses on four areas: driving breakthrough innovation, accelerating industry transformation, preparing nations for the Intelligent Age, and harnessing technology for the benefit of people and the planet. To achieve progress in these areas, it holds events and pursues initiatives. For example, its annual Global Technology Retreat, held in San Francisco, brought together thought leaders to explore ideas, develop partnerships and peer exchanges, and challenge existing paradigms. The event offers a platform for policy-makers and regulators to engage with innovators, anticipating regulatory needs and helping to drive a shared vision. It runs several initiatives aimed specifically at driving breakthrough innovation in areas such as AI, bioeconomy, energy transition, mobility transformation and the quantum economy. It seeks to accelerate industry transformation; its AI workstreams under the AI Governance Alliance promote solutions aimed at supporting sectors and enabling their innovation. In terms of supporting nations to prepare for the Intelligent Age, the centre seeks to support the digitization of public administrations and runs programmes that use digital literacy and governance to tackle online harm. Its work in AI helps develop locally grounded innovation ecosystems and supports adaptive, global policy tools. It also helps define trust standards for emerging technologies, and is involved in helping build a secure, open and interoperable digital public infrastructure. Through its work harnessing technology for people and the planet, the centre oversees initiatives that use the technology to support farmers in India, seeks to help drive a safe and sustainable space environment, and promotes technologies and practices to mitigate climate risks. These initiatives form the foundation of the centre’s work, and during the reporting period, it also achieved several additional successes. Among these was the connection of more than one billion people in more than 100 countries to essential digital services in healthcare, education and finance, thanks to the work of the EDISON Alliance, which surpassed its 2025 target. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with the United Arab Emirates at the Annual Meeting 2025, resulting in the creation of an initiative focused on regulatory innovation, advancing collaborative efforts to ensure government and business are prepared for the Intelligent Age. A second new initiative, Technology Convergence, was launched to identify and advance the most effective combinations of emerging technologies to enhance value chains, drive innovation and inform strategic decision-making in different sectors. It was launched through the inaugural Technology Convergence Report, which introduced a framework for anticipating cross-sector disruption. The Technology Pioneers Innovator Communities marked the programme’s 25th anniversary. Since its inception, it has recognized 100 forward-thinking start-ups annually, spotlighting emerging technologies and the entrepreneurs behind them. The Tech for Climate Adaptation initiative demonstrated how frontier technologies can protect critical value chains like food, energy and manufacturing from climate impacts, helping prevent up to 4% in cumulative GDP (gross domestic product) losses by 2100. The Forum’s Centres for the Fourth Industrial Revolution grew to 22 members, with the launch of Global Government Technology Centre Berlin and Global Government Technology Centre Kyiv, as well as Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Medellín, Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Oman, the South Africa Centre for Industry and Technology, Riyadh’s Centre for Cyber Economics, and the renewal of Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution United Arab Emirates. The focus of these centres is on advancing work on AI, the energy transition, industrial digitization, decarbonization and cybersecurity economics.Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution At the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we empower leaders to unlock the potential and address the challenges of frontier technologies, helping accelerate the benefits and mitigating the risks of their adoption. Jeremy Jurgens, Managing Director Annual Report 2024-2025 Our Organization30

Annual Report 2024 2025